The Sorceress and Her Apprentice
by ultralight1
Summary: Mima finds out that a young girl has been using her home while she has been away. After learning of her ability, Mima has decided to train this little girl named Marisa. Mima tries to train Marisa, while trying protect her not just from Youkai, but also from the human village who wants Marisa back, all while a strong bond forms between the two of them.
1. The magic-less child

**Touhou project is owned by Team Shanghai Alice**

 **This is the first of many stories that I created. They take place between incidents and are here to flesh out the characters and the world, as well as to use for future plot points.**

Mima was rushing to her house as fast as she could. She had to rush out of Makai before the portal closed, and now she had to rush back to her sanctuary that was her home before Yakari noticed her. For that reason she was flying under the tree lines, despite it slowing her down. As she neared her home, she knew something was up.

Her home was both vast and located near the edge of the forest of magic that was closest to the forest surrounding the shrine. As such it was prime realest for youkia with a bone to pick with the shrine maiden. She had not only built it into a hill, with a door way being the only indication that her house was there, but she had also used several spells and seals to make her door way look like a normal surface of the hill to anyone but the few she trusted enough to keep the placement a secret.

The door itself was slotted perfectly into the hill, with a bit of pavement out in front to enter from. It was a very fine and smooth wooden door, and it did not have a layer of dust. And that was what worried her, because she had not been home in 4 years, meaning someone had taken refuge in it. _This is bad. No one who knows about my home would use it when I'm away, and… yep the seals are still in place. A powerful Youkia must have been using it, and without my focuser I stand no chance. I hope my vault had been broken into yet._

Mima quietly opened the door and floated inside. To her relief, no one was in the main room. Despite being in a cave, the insides look like any other houses, with wooden walls that were colored a pale white, and furniture such as chairs and tables. She quickly moved across the room, dodging the furniture, before making it the rightwing hallway. She went down the hall way before she came to a metal door that leads to her vault. After spinning the dial a few times back and forth, she opened the door, which made enough noise that anyone in the house could hear it open. The hall ways were twice the width of the doors, so she had enough room to open it all the way.

When Mima entered the large vault, she was relived to find that no one had entered it since she left last, thanks to the thick layer of dust. She quickly crossed the vault to the back wall to grab her focuser, a silver staff with a crescent moon blade at the tip. As she was grabbing her staff, she heard her bedroom door slam. Now confident that she can take on the youkia, she exited the vault, closed its door in a slam, and moved down the slowly rest of the hall way. She turned left at the corner, and reach her door at the end of it.

Without any hesitation, she flew open the door and pointed her staff at the intruder. To her surprise, it was not a ferocious youkia, but a little girl covering herself with a pillow on Mimas bed. The girl looked eight or nine. She has blond, slightly curvy, long hair, yellow eyes, and wore a pink Yukata that was covered in dirt.

"Who are you, and what are you doing in my home?" Mima questioned slightly intimidating while lowering her staff.

"T-this is your home! I'm sorry please don't eat me." Said by the frightened little girl.

 _This is perfect, I can use this girl to give "her" some more trust after being gone for so long._ Mima thought to herself. "What are you doing her instead of at the relative safety of the village?" Mima continued to question.

"I-I ran away from home and youkai chased me and I hid in here and please don't eat me!" The girl said franticly.

 _There goes that plan. I can't use her in a ritual because Yukari will relies I'm alive when I do, and more importantly, Shinki will hate me when she finds out I killed a young and defenses child. Plus I'm curious about her and how she saw though the seals._

When Mima looked back at the young girl, she was surprise to find her at her hands and knees begging at Mima. "Please don't eat me. I will do anything. I will clean up this place. I will help-"

"Relax, I'm not going to eat you." Mima interrupted "I'm become curious of something about you, so you can stay the night." Mima laid her focuser onto the wall near the door.

"Thank you miss ghost lady."

Mima cringed a little at the name. "First off, I'm a human and you will address me as such. Secondly, you will addressee me Miss Mima until I say otherwise"

The young girl stuttered "O-okay Miss Mima"

"Now give me your name and your hand"

"M-Marisa k-Kirisame." The girl said as she nervously lifted her arm. Mima cupped Marisa hand around her hands, checking for magic. She felt nothing. She checked with other magic. Nothing. This girl named Marisa had no magical affinity. She could not use magic.

"Strange." Mima said aloud.

"What is?" asked Marisa, now a bit more comfortable with Mima.

"Nothing of importance right now." Mima answer. Mima began to think about the situation as she said that. _How did she get through my seal without any magic prowess? It's probably my seals acting funny to someone without magic, as only youkia and magically gifted humans come around these parts. Regardless, I will reset my seals, as well as adding in some magic I learned in Makai. Today has been a long day though, and I'm tired, so I will focus on it tomorrow._

"Why don't we go to sleep so we can discuss something in the morning?" Mima asked Marisa. Without waiting for a response, she led the young girl to a guest room further down the hallway. After saying good night, she went back to her own room. After finding that all her cloths were dusty, she went to sleep with what she was wearing, knowing that tomorrow would be a busy day for her.


	2. An instinctive knowledge of magic

Mima was not wrong with how busy it was. She had to wake up early to wash all the cloths she had. While she did use magic to help her with washing and drying, it still took hours to clean it all. After she had dried the cloths, she changed into one of her mages outfits. It was at that time that Marisa woke up.

"So you finally decided to wake up." Mima said to a still sleepy Marisa.

"Good Mor-. How are you?!" Marisa, in her half tired state, did not recognize Mima.

"I know you only been with me for one day, but surly you recognize me? Hold on." Mima summoned her focuser into her right hand and thrust it towards Marisa "That Better?"

Marisa jumped back in freight, and realized what she did wrong. She apologized franticly "I'm sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry Miss Mima please don't punish me!" shaking all the while.

Mima could not help but smirk and talk in a mischievous style "you better not let it happen again. Let me guess, it was the new cloths, wasn't it?" Mima was referring to the blue cloths she was now wearing. She was wearing a blue dress with a white trimming and sleeves. She wore a yellow bow and had a yellow sun, moon, and star at the bottom of her dress. She also wore a blue cape with a purple inside. A blue cap with a yellow sun in its lower right corner rested upon her head. "Well you better get used to it, for this is what I normally wear."

"O-okay." Marisa was visibly quivering.

Mima turned around and began to start replacing her seals, when a thought cross her mind. "How did you keep yourself fed?"

"Hu?"

Mima turned back around and asked the question more directly "Where did you get the food you ate Marisa?"

"Someone brought me food every week."

" **You let someone know the location of my home!** " Mima said pissed off.

"Epee" Marisa was absolutely terrified.

Mima asked again "Did You!"

"I-I sh-should them w-where the house was, b-but they d-did not b-believe m-me."

"When did they come last?" Mima calmed down a bit, but was still clearly mad.

"T-two days ago."

"Good I have some time to deal with that." Mima started to redo the seals, while Marisa, to frighten to move, just watched.

Mima chanted a spell while waving her staff to dispelled her seals. After getting rid of the seals, she started the arduous process of replacing the seals, while adding seals she learn while in Makai. After an erry silence, Marisa spoke up when the seal was almost complete. "H-hey"

"What is it?" Mima asked while putting the final touches to her seal.

Marisa, still slightly scared, continued "T-the door is d-different now."

Mima was baffled "How can you tell that the seals are different if you can't even use magic… wait." Mima said to herself. She moved closer to Marisa and gave her directions. "I'm going to perform a spell and I want you to pick which rune I used."

Before Marisa could say anything, Mima raised her focuser and cast a bubble spell. After which she showed three runes to Marisa "Now pick one."

To Mimas surprise, Marisa did not pick the bubble or water runes, but instead scuffled over to the fire runes. "T-this one."

"So you chose the fire rune?"

Marisa looked shocked "b-but I'm sure that this is the right one."

"Hahaha, you picked correctly, great job." Mima began to clap.

Marisa, not expecting praise, blushed.

"Ahahahaha, and more importantly, I have gotten the answer to my question."

"What question?" Marisa's stuttering disappeared.

"The question to why you can notice my runes even though you can't use magic."

"W-what! Can't use magic?" Marisa began to tear up.

"More accurately, you don't have any magical affinity, meaning you should not be able to create or manipulate magic. **Should not** "

Tears roll down Marisa's face as she lowered it down, when she heard the last part "Hu?"

"You have what I will call an almost instinctive understanding of magic. That drastically changes the rules, as well as obliterates one of the magic duel types."

Marisa lifted her face up. It was damp from the tears, and red from her crying, but she had stopped crying "W-what do you mean."

Mima began to explain "the most difficult part of learning magic is knowing what it feels like. Without magical affinity, you don't have that unconscious understanding of magic. It takes to many lifetimes of magic flowing through your body to get an unconscious understanding normally, effectively stopping non magically affinity people from learning how to use magic. With your ability however, magic flowing through your body once is enough to get an unconscious understanding. With a great teacher, you could easily learn magic. So that begs the question, would you like to be my apprentice?"

Marisa ran to and wrap her arms around Mima "yes. I have always wanted to learn magic, but nobody would let me." Tears began to roll down Marisa's face, not of sorrow but of joy.

Mima had a big smile on her face. "All right then. I hope you're ready for a wild ride that will be your life. First, let's get you into some cleaner and more fitting cloths for the roll you just accepted.

* * *

The door to the room Marisa slept in opened, reveling a young girl wearing a purple dress that open up at the bottom with a purple witch's hat on top of her head. A white bow wraps around the hat. Marisa looked unsure about the dress.

Mima, who was leaning against the wall across from the door, gave a thumbs up. "Looking good." Mima straighten up and got closer to Marisa to inspect "That apprentice outfit suits you well."

"It feels weird" Marisa mumbled

"Speck up"

"It feels weird" Marisa said just loud enough

"It's the dress with the looser bottom half. Don't worry, you will get accustom to that."

"Do I have to wear this?" The apprentice asked while adjusting the bottom of her dress.

"Whenever you are doing or studying magic. I will not have you wear anything causal while dealing with the forces of magic."

"Okay Miss Mima."

Mima let out a breath "You will address me as Master, or if you need to say my name Master Mima, so long as you are my apprentice, like all the other's I've train."

"Others?" Marisa asked curiously

A small smile escaped Mimas lips "O please, this is not my first time in the ring."

A confused look filled Marisa's face.

"Anyways" Mima decided to change the conversation "Let me give you a proper tour of this place." Mima pointed to the end of the hallway. "That door leads to the master bedroom. You can only enter there with permission, or if it is an emergency. The room you just left is where you will be sleeping, and that door in-between the two leads to the washroom."

Mima grabbed hold of Marisa's hand and dragged her to the corner. Mima pointed to the door that's at the end of the hallway before turning the corner. "That is the room where guest would sleep in. The door just past the corner is the closet, and that door" Mima pointed her arm around the corner "is the vault door. You can go in there at my digression."

While Marisa was taking all that in, Mima moved them to the end of the hallway. "This is the main room, with a nice carpet floor and the Kotatsu in the middle. There's also a chair in the corner to read books in. Across the room is my round dining table with four chairs, and separated by a wall is the kitchen. Now follow me."

Mima lead Marisa to a northern hallway with doors leading left, right, and straight forward. "The left door leads alchemy room, which you're not allowed in yet, and the right door is the library, where you will spend a lot of your time studying. Let's go into the middle door for now." Mima went forward and opened the door. Marisa nervously followed after.

When Marisa entered the room, she saw a space twice as big as the main room, which was already the biggest room that she had seen before. The walls were covered in ash, and the floor was filled with magical circles. Mima was floating in the center of the room.

"This is the room I use to test my magic, and this is the room you will train in. I will not lie to you, over the course of the training you will experience many morally wrong things, and the training itself will be life altering brutal. If you're ready, take my hand and begin your first steps into your new life."

Marisa, though hesitant, moved towards Mima and grabbed her hand, feeling a rush of energy move through her body when she held on.


	3. The sorceress of the cosmos

**Ya, sorry this took so long. I was not aware that keeping and maintain a world for my secret project would be such a challenge. I doubt the amount of work required will fall down any time soon. Not only that but the human who transfers this work (by the way, there is a human who transfers my work from what I write to a format that would accept) says he is busy with school and work. So from now on, I will attempt to get out a story every week or two weeks on Sunday. Any ways, enjoy your new chapter, as it's a long one.**

-Three days later-

Marisa was sitting in the middle of a newly made magic circle. Her eyes were close she concentrating. Concentrating on getting magic to flow though her body. The entire room was dark, except for the circle, as though to illuminate this young girl learning magic. The magic circle glow began to become red.

"Stop" Mima, who was standing to the side, dispelled the magical circles, causing Marisa's eyes to open and look at her. "I suppose that that is enough for today."

"I'm sorry master" Marisa tears began to dip to the floor "I just do not know how to control magic."

Mima gave a reassuring smile "you have no reason to feel bad about yourself. It takes the best mages several weeks to learn to do that. Plus once you have learned how to control magic, and release that control to make a magical blast, I can start teaching you the really fun parts of magic. Runes, enchantments, spells able to break reality, all that will be at your fingertips, just like it is for me."

"Okay master" she was still uncertain.

"In any case, I'm going to go talk with an acquaintance of mine. So while I'm gone, you should… I know." Mima dragged Marisa out of the magic room and into the library.

Before Marisa could ask anything, Mima got out some books and gave them to Marisa "you can mesmerize some runes while I'm away and save me some trouble." Mima gave a short laugh.

As Mima opened the door to leave the room, Marisa quickly asked "who are you visiting?"

"Two people axially. One is the acquaintance I mentioned, and the other is someone you know." With that Mima shut the door to the library. After quickly going over to her vault and grabbing two bags of money, she left her house. She then cast some a spell to make herself invisible, so her presence was not known, and went on her way.

As she was flying to the first destination, her mind wandered to Marisa. _She just needs to figure out how to access magic. Danger will probably trigger her body to control it._ Mima began so smirk. _In a few days, if she has yet to figure out how to access magic, then I suppose I could give her a little nudge. I sure she would not mine if I speed up the training process by a few months._ Mima began to plan out how to do that as her smirk grew into a smile, trying to hold back the evil laughter.

* * *

Mima stopped just outside a store in the middle of the forest of magic. She only had one bag with her. A small smirk remain on her face.

"Okay, how should I do this?" As she thought, her smirk grew bigger. "Wait, I'm Mima, there is only one way for me to do this." She let out an evil laugh.

* * *

Kourindou, a store that specializes in wares from the outside world. Though some objects were on the floor or on tables, most were on shelves around the store. Even though most of the objects looked like they were placed randomly, it was clear there was some type of order in how they were arranged. The store itself was very dusty, as well as most of the merchandise.

The person behind the counter was the owner and sole worker of the store. He had golden eyes, silver hair, and was wearing glasses. He was wearing an oddly detailed yukata that was blue on the left side of the top third as well as completely on the bottom third, and black on the right side of the top third and completely on the middle third. There was also a brown bag in front strapped around his shoulders and chest. He was enjoying the trance atmosphere of the store, reading a book and sipping tea.

That atmosphere was immediately obliterated as a lightning strike caused the owner to jump, and he subsequent darkening of his store mad him frantic. Before he could regain his bearings, a terrifying crackle filled the air.

"Mhahahaha. Hello there. So you're the owner of the Kourindou, Rinnosuke."

Rinnosuke knew exactly who was theorizing him, and he was already against the wall in horror. "H-h-h-how are you still alive!"

"Ehahahahaha. Even if the last Hakurei miko was as strong as an oni, she did not have the spiritual power to permanently kill me." Dark clouds began to form and gather in the center. They swirled around as a dangerous being appeared from the mist. The sorceress of the cosmos, Mima!

Because of the darkness, Rinnosuke could only see the outline of Mima, but it was enough to be terrified. He could see her famous crescent moon spear, as well as a sadistic grin. Rinnosuke noticed Mima's ghost tail. "You- you became a youkia!" He started too slid to the back door.

"I am a human." She answered in the most monotone voice she could. She immediately return to her Regular voice "Also you will not leave." She cast a spell. All the doors and windows became blocked by danmaku. "After all, we have a lot to talk about. But first, here." Mima threw something at Rinnosuke, who tried to block with his arms.

A thud filled the store as the object landed on the counter, and the clanking of coins followed imminently afterwords, making him look at the object. The lighting turn back to normal as soon as he did that, making it clear that the object was a bag of coins. Confessed, Rinnosuke looked up, just to see Mima had change from a sadistic grin to a mischievous laugh while pointing at him. "Ahaha. Ha. That was priceless. As for the money bag, consider that payment for helping out Marisa." She smiled, knowing exactly what she said.

Rinnosuke recoiled back in surprise. "Marisa! What has happened to her?!"

"Oh nothing much just" Mima turned the store dark again and summoned a blue light to illuminate her arm and part of her face "became my apprentice so I can teach her my worlds shattering magic and my philosophy." The lighting turned back to normal ass Mima pretended to be innocent.

"Your apprentice!"

"Yep, but that's not all I wanted to talk to you about." Mima pointed her spear at Rinnosuke "why did Marisa run away from you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb. I know that Marisa trusts and respects you, and I know she ran away home, so what did you do to get Marisa to run away from you too?"

 _I should not share this with her. I don't know if she really cares about Marisa. Plus she's Mima. But this might keep Marisa form making another dumb decision._ "Marisa ran away from here because she thought I thought that she was useless, and thought I had gone to her fathers to give her back to him."

"Wait… feeling useless, and talking to someone she had run away form. **OH NO!** " Mima eyes went wide "sorryihavetogobutthisisurgent!" Mima dispelled the danmaku and immediately went outside and casted "BLAZING STAR!"

It took a few seconds for Rinnosuke to process what just happened. "Well at least she cares about Marisa. I pray that you can reach Marisa before the youkia do." He looked over to the money bag and took out coin. "It does not matter if you care about Marisa or that you gave me this bag of money. You are still Mima and the village needs to know about you. Tomorrow."

* * *

"Why, Why, WHY! Why could I have I not learn magic! Now Mima is going to return me! I can't let that happen. I can't return back to the village. Where do I even go thought?!" Was running away from Mima's home into the forest, to places unknown. Her Yelling out loud had attracted some attention, which she smacked right into.

"My, my. A human child. You so rarely get to see a human around here, much less a child." The person talking was a human like youkia that look like she was in her mid-20s. She had long blond hair and red eyes, and wore a long black dress with white undershirt.

Marisa started to back away when she heard a voice behind her. "You came at just the right time, we were getting pretty hungry." Marisa looked behind her to see a crow tengu with their large black wings, camera, and wind fan.

Marisa wanted to say "stay back" but she was stricken by an all-consuming fear. She did not move, nor did she yell for help, because her mind was locked on her dying a horrifying death.

"Now don't worry, this is just going to hurt a lot." With a hungry grin, the human like youkia rushed forward with her razor sharp claws.

Marisa body reacted on its own. It caused magic to flow though her body. The magical sensation caused Marisa to notice were to concentrate her focus on. Just as the human like youkia reached her, she let go of the concentration on her magic, causing a magical blast to push back the youkia into the air. Marisa fell onto her hands and knees though from the amount of energy used up.

The human like Youkia span around in the air and land on her feet. "So you can you magic." She created a black sword out of darkness. "I doubt you have enough energy to stop me from-"

"From what?" A mysterious but slightly livid voice boomed. Marisa recognize that voice. In the resulting quietness, the sound of footsteps could be heard. Rushing among the foliage caught everyone's attention, and out from it came Mima lacking a focuser. "What are you going to do to my apprentice?"

Both youkia jumped back in fear "Mima! Y-y-y-you're supposed to be d-d-dead!" The bird youkia yelled in disbelief and in fear.

"Sh-she is not Mima. She does not have her crescent moon sphere. It still marks the place of her death. This is just a youkia trying to scare us away from our meal!" The other Youkia was trying to be threatening, but was visibly shanking.

"How strange is it that both humans and youkia react to fear in the same number of ways." Mima raised her arm, only to get stabbed in the back.

"No you will not, FOX!" A wolf tengu with white fire, a round shield, and a curved sword came from behind. Mima just turn her hand around and reveled a wide grin, before dissolving into purple mist. The wolf tengu was wide eyed.

"It really is the sorceress of the cosmos, ru-" Was all the wolf could say before his head was decapitated, blood spraying everywhere, and falling onto the ground along with his body. Behind him was Mima with her ghostly tail back and a bloody focuser in hand. She looked Pissed. The other two youkia took off in a fit of pure terror.

Mima simply raised her focuser. "Stardust reverie." Several large stars were formed and homed in on the human like youkia. She turned around and shot balls of darkness at the stars. She was doing rather well, in tell a star that had arched around hit her left side, causing that side to be destroyed. Her other half fell to the ground, dying it crimson red.

Mima turned her attention to the crow tengu, which was almost out of sight. She snapped her fingers, and the youkia was cut rapidly into many parts before falling to the ground in a million pieces. Someone then appeared before Mima, dressed in dark blue and with a mask covering her face. "If anyone saw that I'm alive, well you know what to do." Mima told the masked person. With a nod in response, it disappeared without a word.

Mima then turned her attention to young Marisa, who was against a tree trunk, eyes full of fear. Y-y-you are the s-sorceress of the c-cosmos.

"So you have heard of me. Just not my name or my description." Mima gave a short laugh.

"Please don't kill me."

"Ha. Kill you? Now why would I do that? If I wanted to do that, then I would have let those youkia do it for me and then killed them. I want you to learn magic though, and that requires you to be alive."

"But I thought I disappointed you."

"Disappointment? What you just did was something that most mages take weeks or even months to complete. You have no reason to disappoint me. Hell, I went down to Kourindou just to bribe Rinnosuke to not take you away."

"Really!?" Marisa was positively cheerful with a smile going from edge to edge. "Thank you Master Mima." Marisa got up and bow for Mima.

Mima chuckled at this "you don't need to do that." Mima stopped laughing and became more serious. "However, there something I need to ask you. Why?"

"Hu?"

"Why do you want to learn magic? What's your motive? What are you trying to achieve?"

There was a silence as Marisa pondered the question, or at least pondering as much as a nine year old could. "So, so, so, so Ii Coould… be able to fight." Marisa put her hands on her hip and beamed a big smile.

"Why"

"Because I wanted to"

"Why"

"Because I be able to attack youkia?"

"Why"

"To be able to stop them from causing trouble!" Marisa shouted out.

There was a short pause after Marisa shouted. "Why"

"Because" Marisa put her arms around her and looked down "Mom… fire… fleeing… slayed while running." Even though one cannot see her face, it was clear that Marisa was crying.

"Such nobility in your reason, protection. Nowhere near as sinful as what you think your reason is, or mine. Especially mine." She moved over to Marisa and lifted her head. "When we return home, I will teach you how to use Runes. First, I have to get my fist spear.

Marisa stayed quiet, but is no longer on the verge of crying. She followed after Mima, both quiet despair and loud optimism holding her mind.


	4. The protectorate of the village

**Quick note: the cut early on was intentional as a way to represent Keine's power.**

* * *

The village was getting ready for the day. As the sun started its rise across the sky, stores opened or were in the process of opening, and the streets were starting to fill with people doing there morning routines. And among the quiet noise of the morning, a well-respected member of the village hurried to the main gate.

The woman, who despite being in her 60's, looked in her 30's. She was a relatively tall woman, about as tall as most of the men. She had silver bluish hair and brown eyes. She wore what only could be describe as a building like hat on her head, and also wore a dark blue dress with a white under dress with short sleeves.

As she approached the main gate a voice called out for her. "So you did come quickly, Keine." The person talking was a woman that was actually in her 30's, at least as far as Keine knew, and was nearly as tall as her. She had brown hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing a lone green skirt with black stockings. In her hand was a wand with a star at the tip.

"Of course I did and? What do you want to talk about Koro?"

Koro gave a short laugh "you catch on quickly. I need to talk to you in private."

Keine was flabbergasted "then why did you call me all the way out here?"

Koro walked over and past Keine, before looking behind her. "Because I fear I would be followed and I need your power to keep that from happening."

"Fine then." A slightly livid Keine charged her power and…

… "There that should do it" As the two sat down at the kotatsu as the power faded form the room.

"Now that were at your house and you have stopped your power, I can tell you the news."

"What is so important that you kept hinting at while walking her?" Keine was prepared for any troubling news, form the destruction of the outside world to Koro retiring form being the protectorate of the village.

Coldly and bluntly, Koro only said "Mima's back."

Keine was not prepared for this. She stood up, her eyes full of fear, her mind desperately trying to process it. "Mima! Im-impossible. How-how can she be alive."

"I know it seems impossible, but I saw Mima. She was killing youkia with her shadow clone and stardust reverie."

"Mima don't kill normally so…"

"Mima was more angry than joyful at them, plus this." Koro pulled out a broken crescent moon spear and handed it to Keine. Keine looked up in shock. "Do not psych yourself out with thinking that Mima is still in Makai."

"Wait, Makai? Why do you think Mima was in Makai instead of dead?"

"Because… I can't remember the reason I originally thought that but as far as I know, Mima is friends with the goddess of Makai. Why would she not hide in Makai instead of dying?"

"It's not that simple but fine." Keine sat back down, putting away the broken spear, her mind finishing processing what Mima's return means.

"That's not all, she also now has a ghost tail."

Keine put her hands on her face, more in a fit of annoyance that a fit of fear. "Great, Mima is now a youkia."

"That's not the worst of it. I have two more things I need to tell you. First is that Mima is regaining connections to those three."

"Expected, and not as bad as Mima becoming a **Youkia**."

Koro, who up tell this point had been emotionless in her delivery of the news, suddenly became very pissed off. "She has a new apprentice, a young girl from the village. I have no idea why she is going against the village, but she is!"

Keine slammed her hands onto the table, speaking sharply and rapidly "Can you describe the person? If we knew who it was we can figure out why she did it!"

Before Koro could even open her mouth, the door to the outside slid open, and from it came Rinnosuke, exhausted. "Ghuah, ha, Ghuah, ha. Mima's, Ghuahh, back, ha."

"I have already told Keine about that."

"Ghuahhh, haaa." His breathing steadied as he sat down with the other two, but still anxious over the news. "That's not all, Marisa is now Mima's apprentice."

Keine realized who that was. "You mean that nine year old Kirisame girl that ran away from home? I struggle to think of the terrible things Mima is doing to her."

Rinnosuke crossed his arms and leaned back. "As much as I hate to say this, Mima is kind and protective towards Marisa. At least, that's how I interpret her running out of my shop in the middle of threating me when she learned that Marisa is in danger."

Koro, who had been thinking this entire time, spoke up with a surprising statement. "You know, this situation might not be so bad."

"Hu?" both said in union.

"I mean that if Mima is busy training someone, then she won't cause them to be in harm's way by attacking the shrine for at least a couple of years."

"Then what should we do about Mima and Marisa then?"

Koro got up "we have to go speak with Marisa's father."

Keine blurted out "I thought you did not want to tell the villagers to stop mass panic."

"True, but I also believe that Marias father has a right to know what happened to his daughter, unless you have an objection." There was no rebuttal as the other two got up.

* * *

Marisa's father was in his house, praying for his daughter safe return at a small shrine in his house when a young woman came in along with both Rinnosuke and Keine and gave the bad news "How, why is my angle serving this demon?"

"That's actually what I wanted to ask you about. Why did Marisa run away from you, Mr. Kirisame?"

"Fine then Miss…"

"Futago, Miss Futago please."

Mr. Kirisame put his hands just under his mouth. "It began a year ago. I, my beautiful wife, and my daughter were living peacefully in another part of the village. One night a youkia of darkness put our house on fire. While we were trying to escape, this youkia killed my wife and would have done the same to us had not both Keine and Mokou came in the nick of time. However from that event Marisa went into a state of depression. She eventually thought I found her worthless, and ran away as a result." The Grimness of the story hanged in the air.

"So the reason she had ran away was not because you refuge to let her learn magic?"

"That's wat she tells herself, but I never kept her from learning magic. I just wanted her to wait in tell she was older."

Koro then asked another strange question "can you describe the youkia of darkness?"

Mr. Kirisame was taken aback by this "well she…" he closed his eyes "had blond hair, red eyes, and black cloths."

Despite the atmosphere, Koro began to giggle. "He, hehe, hehehe."

" **What's so funny?** "

"How strange fate is. In an ironic twist of fate, from my understanding, that same youkia tried to eat Marisa, and as a result got killed by m… Mima."

"Wait, what? Why would Mima-"

Koro interrupted him "remember Mima is human. Or was, I can't tell.

Mr. Kirisame was actively confused about what he had just heard. "What should we do?"

"As strange and out there as this suggestion seems, I think we should leave them be."

"What?" said in unison by both Keine and Rinnosuke, who were both still there, but had remained quiet.

"Why would we leave be a maniac?" questioned Mr. Kirisame.

"I know it sounds like madness, so allow me to explain my reasoning. Aham. The people in this group, as well as Mima and Marisa, are the only ones who know that Mima is alive. I think that she does not want to let that fact be known, so she won't attack the village so long as we pretend to not know she is alive."

Keine crossed her arms. "We still need to tell the shrine that there mortal enemy is still alive."

"That leads me to my next point. If we tell the shrine about this, then eventually Yukari will know, and she will reasonably attack Mima. While she could finish off Mima right then and there, Mima is a tricky one, so she could easily escape, and imminently attack the shrine, which is bad for the young shrine maiden living there."

"What about Marisa?" Rinnosuke responded.

"Well, I believe that the reason she will only counter attack is not because people now know that she is alive, though that is part of it, but rather the fact that Marisa is not safe either way. And if Marisa is not safe either way, why would she not attack the village or the shrine. If Marisa is only in danger once Mima attacks, then that stops Mima from attacking for at least a couple of years."

Keine exhaled in defeat. "I guess that makes sense in a weird sort of way, but not telling anyone…"

"You can probably tell Mokou, so long as she keeps the secret." Koro added.

Mr. Kirisame looked up in both disbelief and in anger. "You can't be serious. We can't leave Marisa with that **Madwoman!** "

"Mr. Kirisame, I know it's your responsibility as a parent to protect your child, but please calm down. This is for both the wellbeing of the shrine and the village."

"I refuse to believe that leaving Marisa is the correct choice."

"Haa, you guys deal with him, I have somewhere else to be." Before anyone could say anything, Koro left the room."

* * *

Far outside the village, in the forest of magic, Koro stopped in her tracks and looked around. When knew that she was alone, she let out a large mad laugh. "Mhahahahah. Those fools did not even know that I was playing them like a fiddle." Koro removed her wand and spawned a crescent moon spear.

Light began to emit for Koro. In a blinding flash, the disguised was removed. As the light faded, a silhouette of a woman with a ghost tail, a pointed hat, and a large grin. Mima. "Glad I could use that old focuser one last time. Now I won't have to worry about attacks from the village, with the exception of Mr. Kirisame. Hehe. Now to get back home and teach Marisa some runes." With that, Mima flew home, laughing all the way.


	5. The first test

**Originally, this and the next chapter were once one huge chapter. I split them up due to time constants, so that I won't have to rush the chapters. So enjoy.**

* * *

Days pass, then weeks, then months. Marisa's training continued, as her knowledge increased and her power grew, she quickly grasp the art of rune making, and the basics of magic. Soon, the first of many tests were upon her.

"It's so hot. Can I please take of my hat at the very least?" Marisa tried to act as cute as she can, with big eyes that looked about to cry, hands together in a begging form, and an air of cuteness about her.

Mima gave an energetic answer as she prepared the test. "Sure you can… as soon as you succeed at the test." She swung her arm as she said the last part. Marisa grabbed her hat in fear. "Relax, you do fine" Mima reassured her.

Marisa let out a sigh of relief. "Okay then." As she stood there, waiting for Mima to finish preparations, she began to rock back and forth. Before long, boredom consumed her, causing her to ask "Are you done yet?"

"Well I've been done for a while. I just wanted to see how long it will take you to ask that."

"What, you-"

"Yes I am monster. Thank you. Now let's begin the test." Before Marisa could ask about the first two statements, Mima continued. "May you please list the different rune types?"

"Oh, um. Hum. There's the five elements, the s-"

"Please list each one Marisa."

"Oh, um, there's fire, water, metal, earth, wood, wind, poison, ice, bubbles, burning, plants, weapons, light, dark, restoration, destruction, enchantment, transmutation, protection, communication, summoning, holy, and unholy. Oh and lighting."

"Given how the only types you missed where from the schools of magic that I have yet to teach you, your spot on Marisa. Now, counter all the runes I make." Mima created a fire rune on the floor, causing a ring of fire to form around Mima.

Marisa quickly drew a water rune to create a rain cloud. The rain cloud dosed the fire, revealing Mima with a lighting rune already complete.

Mima put the rune on the cloud, causing it to become a lighting cloud and shoot electricity. Marisa tried to counter by using a wind rune to blow apart the cloud. Mima simply used a wind rune to counter-counter. However, this gave Marisa the room to destroy the water rune, destroying the rain cloud and the lighting rune along with it.

Mima looked surprised for a moment, before forming a smile. She then created three runes with the bases of wood, wind, and fire. Marisa could tell that the rune types where different, and created 3 runes in response.

Mima launched the first run at Marisa, which transformed her into a mouse. This triggered Marisa's first rune, which transformed her back into a human. Both mages activated there second runes at the same time. Mima's enchantment rune enchanted Mima with increase speed, but Marisa's enchantment rune disenchanted Mima with decrease speed.

Marisa activated her darkness rune, hoping to use it to stop Mima's light rune. Mima simply snapped her fingers. The light rune emitted a large flash of light, not only destroying the darkness, but also getting rid of all the other runes in effect. It also temporality blinded Marisa.

When the light had faded enough to let Marisa see again, she saw Mima almost done with a massive and powerful light rune. Thinking fast, she used a fire rune to launch a fire ball at Mima. Not noticing in tell it was too late, Mima was hit by the fire ball. This not only caused the rune to dispel, but also knocked Mima back onto the floor. "Nonononono what did I do. Mima is going to kill me when she gets up!"

"Marisa." Marisa looked back to see Mima getting up. She floated towards Marisa with a blank stare. When she got to Marisa, she put her hands on Marisa's solders and gave a massive smile. "Ahaha. I did not expect that I would have had that big of an impact on you so quickly."

Marisa was a bit surprised at Mima's reaction. "What?"

"I never expected you to dispel your own rune to stop mine. You using an enchantment to counter act my enchantment is an interesting idea. And you attacking me to stop me from using my rune. Well I should have been paying attention, and I really should have not underestimated you. Congratulations, you passed the test with flying colors.

Marisa quickly threw her hat on the ground and hugged Mima. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Mima hugged back in turn. "Thank yourself. Anyways, you should wash up while I make dinner."

* * *

Marisa jumped up to her seat at the dining table. Mima had just finish putting the soup in the bowls, and had sat down at the table as well. "Mushroom soup! My favorite." Marisa began to wolf it down as Mima took her time.

"So Marisa. I think that you are ready to start learning how to cast spells."

Marisa looked up with her mouth full. "Grolly?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full, and yes really. While you're not done with learning runes, we can now start spacing them out, and you know the basics of magic. I can start teaching you how to create spells, how to use my shadow clones and stardust reverie, and even how to fly."

Marisa quickly swallowed her food. "Thanks Mima… I mean master!"

"Hmhmhm. Don't worry about it. You can call me Mima while we are alone or not studying magic. When we are, you still have to call me master. Anyhow, don't think learning magic will be easy. What with learning about spells, learning how to cast spells, and increasing how much magic you can store so you can cast the spell, It will take years for you to be a competent mage, even with your ability."

The two of them were in silence as they ate there foods, in tell Mima deceived to speak again. That being said, Marisa, I will have some guests over tomorrow. With your skills with runes, I will allow you to play outside tomorrow."

Marisa, who had just finished her bowl, swallowed. "Thank you. I promise that I will study hard and become a great mage in no time. Also can I have another bowl."  
"We will see" Mima grabbed Marisa's bowl and went over to the pot. "We will see."


	6. The broken bond, The unbreaking bond

**Sorry that there was no story last week. A little background information. There is this human down on earth who transcribes my stories from the format I send him to a format that fanfiction will accept (word.) According to him, last weekend there was an update that caused his keyboard to stop working. It was fixed with another update at the end of the weekend, but there was no time to transcribe my work onto word. As such, I will composite you guys by not taking a break between stories and releasing the next one as soon as possible. Anyways, onto the chapter.**

* * *

Marisa woke up by loud sounds coming from the main room. After nearly falling off her bed, she got dressed in her apprentice outfit and went to the east hallway. As she approached the main room, she could clearly make out Mima's voice among the voices.

When Marisa entered the main room, she was immediately noticed by Mima and the two guest. "There you are. Awake sleepy head?" Mima turned back towards the guests "This is my apprentice Marisa."

One of the guests, a woman, gave a quick bow at Marisa. She had dark… purple (?) eyes and purple hair that was tied into a ponytail. She wore white vest with a red vest over it in a style that a man would often wear. On her left hip was a sheath for a katana. "Hello there young child. My name is Meira and this person's name… what are you going to blurt out Rika?"

The shorter woman (?) was taller than Marisa by a large margin, but looked like a child next to Mima and Meira. She had brown eyes and hair that was put into two braids in the front. She wore a white shirt as well as light brown pants, but did not look nearly like a man like Meira did. A light blue bow rested on the top of her shirt. She had her hand over her mouth, trying in vain to stop herself. When Meira asked her that question, the flood gates opened. "Who are you and what have you done with the real Mima!" Rika had a massive smile on her face.

Mima gained an equally massive smile on her face. "Oh, well the real me is right over there." Mima pointed at the corner, where another Mima was waiting. "Hi."

Marisa started to look back and forth rapidly "What? Wait what? Why is there two of you." Marisa put her hands over her ears as her brain started to go on meltdown.

Meira put her hand over her face. "Please stop messing with your apprentice, your blowing her young mind." Despite her attempts to hide it, she could not help but have a small grin as well.

The Mima in the corner responded. "Ghahaha, sorry but I can't help myself." She wiped her eye like there was a tear in there before going to the center of the room. The Mima already in the center of the room exploded into purple clouds before they too faded.

"Mmmm…" as processing what just happened racked Marisa's brain, another thought rose to the surface, one she could not believe she had forgot about. "Can I, um, go outside?" Marisa looked with a face of pure innocents.

Mima summoned and twirled her staff "well you did sleep in today…" Mima stopped twirling her staff and started to tap it against her left hand, "buuut I did promise you I would allow you to go outside yesterday," Mima stopped tapping her staff and slammed it against the ground "so I will allow it this one time."

"Okay then." Marisa bounced out the door as she said that. As she was about to close the door behind her, she overheard Mima and Meira talking.

"You let her sleep in on purpose didn't you?"

"Was it that obvious?"

* * *

Marisa was finally able to experience being outside by herself again, and she was in awe at the tranquility and peacefulness of it. Every time she had been out here in the last few months, she had to stay close to Mima and they never strayed out far from the house. She was now free to explore and take in her surroundings. She was currently focused on getting a mushroom on the side of a tree.

"Come on, get it, get it, err." Even standing on tippy toes and reaching as high as she could, it was just out of reach. "Fine then, how about this." She backed up and did a running jump to get the mushroom. She grabbed it, causing it to snap off and causing her to fall down a hill into a bush at the bottom.

Marisa jumped out of the bush with the mushroom held high and a smile on her face. "I've got it!" yelled Marisa in triumph. Just as she was about to take a bite out of it, a familiar voice made her drop it.

"Marisa? Is that you?" out of the foliage came a man with short blond hair wearing a traditional garment and holding a slip of paper in his hand.

"Dad!" Marisa tried to back away, but the man rushed forward, picked her up, and hugged her.

"I-I was worried sick! I was worried that some youkai got to you! I'm glad that you safe." He stopped hugging her and gently put her down. He grabbed her hand. "Come on lets go home."

Marisa tried to resist "NO! I-I want to learn magic!"

Marisa's father let go of Marisa's hand, knee down to Marisa's level, and looked her in the eyes. "I never said that you couldn't learn magic, honey. I just wanted you to wait tell you were older. Look at me. I know you ran away, but that's never the solution. We will get through this pain together, Marisa."

"I-I want to stay with Mima." Marisa ran away as fast as she could, only to nearly run into a tree. She looked back to see her father walking towards her.

"Marisa, please, I know you ran away but I can forgive you for that. I'm your father, so please listen to me. Come back to the village with me."

Marisa shouted at the top of her lungs " **You are no longer my father!** " There was a brief silence in the air.

"What did Mima do to you? Come on, were going to the village, you need help." He had the slightest bit of pissed off in his tone. He rushed at Marisa, but before he could reach her, a star whizzed between them, forcing Marisa's father to stop.

"What are you doing to my apprentice?" At were the star came from, Mima was pointing her spear at Marisa's father. She had the face of seriousness combined with anger, just like when youkia had attack Marisa.

Marisa father, despite visibly trembling, did not back down. "As Marisas father, I will make sure that you will stop corrupting my daughter!" He rushed at Mima, who did nothing to stop him. He slammed the amulet he had in his hand onto Mima.

It fell of her without doing anything. Mima now had a grin on her face. "You thought an amulet made to deal with ghost would have any effect on me? You guys at the village clearly don't have any idea what you're dealing with. And anyways, you're not Marisa's father, she has broken ties with you. As her guardian, I will protect her from being taken away by you." She thrusted the non-bladed end at him, knocking him down, before trusting the crescent blade downwards so it traps his neck, but is not far enough down to cut him. "Plus you chose the worst time to attack." Mima snapped her fingers.

Meira jumped out of the bushes in between Marisa and her father, with her left hand on her sheath, and her right hand above her handle, ready to unsheathe her sword at a moment's notice.

A red dot appeared on Marisa's fathers head, racing it back reviled Rika in the sky riding a large purple eyeball which was ready to fire at Rika's command.

"Now I would normally kill you, no question, but you are Marisa's father, and you still care deeply for each other, so I will let you live **if** you leave and never try to take Marisa again." Mima lifted her spear.

Marisa's father got up to his knees. "But, hur. Marisa do you want to stay with Mima?" Marisa gave a nod in response. "Fine, if that's your choice, I will not argue with you." He got up, dirt now covering his cloths, and started to walk back to the village. "Just know this much, I will not take you back in. Got that?" With that, he left without hearing a response.

Meira stopped getting ready to attack with her blade and walked over to Rika, who had descend form the sky and had turn off weapon mode. After a silent bow, they left Mima and Marisa alone.

Marisa was silent, and looked down with an air of sadness. "Hey, do- do you think that- tha-"

"That we could have a falling out. No. Not in less I do something you fine morally wrong."

"But what if some tries to separate us?"

"Then I will promise on my life my soul that I will protect you, and stop anyone who still tries. I doubt anyone can break our bond though, and I know that no one will be able to beat us. You know why.

Marisa looked up, no longer with an air of sadness. "Why?"

Mima yelled with as much theatric, as much joyful energy as she could. "Because I one of the top mages in the world, and you will eventually surpass me!"

Marisa beamed joy "Your right. Nothing can stop us."

"Hmhmhmhmhm. Come on, I need to tell you about the shrine, the maiden, and my never ending battle with her. I'll race you." The two of them ran back home, Marisa running as fast as she can, Mima floating just behind, both having gigantic smiles on their faces. Racing back home, and towards the future.


End file.
